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NHL briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 19, 2000

Yashin returns to chorus of "boos"

KANATA, Ontario -- Alexei Yashin had two goals in his first game at the Corel Center after a bitter contract dispute as the Ottawa Senators dropped a 3-2 preseason game to Calgary on Monday night.

The Russian center, who sat out all of last season, was booed throughout the game by the crowd of 13,211, but the reaction was much milder than anticipated.

"I tried to concentrate on the game and do my best," Yashin said. "The fans are important for me and the game. I thank the fans who supported me."

Yashin scored a power-play goal late in the first period, and tied it at 2 midway through the third period. Calgary's Niklas Andersson scored the winner with 7:46 left in the third period.

"I tried to play hard. It's just preseason and it's hard to gauge where I'm at," said Yashin, who signed autographs for some young fans after the game.

He did not play Saturday night in Ottawa's home loss to Edmonton after assisting on a goal in the Senators' opening tie against Florida.

"I didn't see any rust on him," Calgary goalie Mike Vernon said. "Any time he gets the puck, he's a threat."

Rangers' Palffy to get in shape

LOS ANGELES -- When the Kings learned last season that Ziggy Palffy was planning to open a health club in his native Slovakia during the summer, coach Andy Murray quipped, "I hope he buys a membership."

Conditioning has been the club's only concern about Palffy, the high-scoring wing who is coming off the first playoff series of his career but who missed games last season with lower-back problems.

Skill never has been an issue, as his two goals and two assists proved in Sunday's 4-0 preseason victory against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks at Staples Center. The first came after he stripped the puck from defenseman Pavel Trinka, put a move on goaltender Dominic Roussel and scored.

But when asked about Palffy's conditioning coming into camp, general manager Dave Taylor said tepidly, "He was in reasonably good shape."

Palffy, who has five points in two games, said he is pleased with the program he is doing with assistant strength coach Dave Good. He was the only member of the team's first line to play Sunday, a game also played without top Ducks Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne.

RANGERS: Mark Messier won't play at Madison Square Garden until the team's first regular-season home game to heighten the drama of his return to New York, new coach Ron Low said. Messier, captain of the Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup-winning team, signed a free-agent contract in July that guarantees him $11-million over two years. He left the Rangers as a free agent in 1997.

WILD: Minnesota signed left wing Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis, 21, had 50 goals, 55 assists and 164 penalty minutes in 61 regular-season games last season for the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

KINGS: When Los Angeles learned last season that Ziggy Palffy was planning to open a health club in his native Slovakia during the summer, coach Andy Murray quipped, "I hope he buys a membership."

Conditioning has been the club's only concern about Palffy, the high-scoring wing who is coming off the first playoff series of his career but who missed games last season with lower-back problems.

Skill never has been an issue, as his two goals and two assists proved in Sunday's 4-0 victory against the visiting Mighty Ducks. The first came after he stripped the puck from defenseman Pavel Trinka and put a move on goaltender Dominic Roussel.

But general manager Dave Taylor said tepidly, "He was in reasonably good shape."

Monday's preseason game

FLAMES 3, SENATORS 2: Alexei Yashin quieted the jeers by scoring twice, but Ottawa lost in Ontario. Making his first appearance at the Corel Centre since ending a yearlong holdout, Yashin was booed every time he touched the puck. He silenced some of his critics with a power-play goal late in the first period, then elicited cheers when he deflected Joel Kwiatkowski's shot past goaltender Mike Vernon to forge a 2-2 tie in the third.

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